The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 915: Come back to King's Landing with me, Hound!

Littlefinger came prepared.

It was meticulously designed.

He was determined to capture Sandor Clegane in one fell swoop.

Soon, the pirate ships surrounded the trade ship in a fan shape.

The Hound stood at the bow of the central ship, a warship with a pointed, iron-made ram.

"My lord, we are friends of the Night's Watch," the captain said tremulously. He looked up at the Night's Watch flag given to him by Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

"Stop the ship," the pirate on the opposite side shouted fiercely.

But in fact, they were all empty-handed, nonchalant, and without any precautions.

They didn't take the mercenaries on this trade ship seriously; these pirates were very arrogant.

The Hound on the bow was not wearing his famous dog helmet. His face, half-burned by flames, remained, his eyes as gloomy as a wild beast about to attack.

"Captain, where are your mercenaries?" the Hound roared.

Polliver Clegane walked out from behind Littlefinger, standing at the bow, Littlefinger with a smile on his face.

The Hound didn't recognize Polliver Clegane. Polliver had lowered his mask, pretending to be Littlefinger's guard.

The Hound was very familiar with Polliver, Dunsen, and Raff the Sweetling.

They had once been cavalry soldiers in Tywin's personal guard.

The Hound suddenly saw Littlefinger, and he was immediately stunned!

"Littlefinger!" the Hound shouted, his hand on the hilt of his sword. This was sensitive information, indicating that the Hound was very vigilant.

The Hound received inside information that this was a trade ship trading with wildlings, employing fierce mercenaries, claiming to want to encounter pirates in the Seal Bay and capture the pirate leader to claim a reward from the Braavosi governor.

"Hound, you can take anything on my ship, but can you spare my life?" Littlefinger said with his signature mischievous smile.

Littlefinger was very familiar with the Hound, and the Hound was also very familiar with Littlefinger.

The two had worked together under Robert I for many years! It's just that the Hound was only responsible for protecting one person: Queen Cersei Lannister.

"Littlefinger, since when did you start doing business with wildlings?" the Hound became even more vigilant.

Littlefinger was not someone who would take risks easily, and he had always been a true dog beside the Mountain. The Mountain now unified the continent and sat on the Iron Throne. Littlefinger should have been sitting in the royal palace in King's Landing, enjoying the glory and wealth of a meritorious official. How could he suddenly appear on such a trade ship?

This was very strange!

Littlefinger noticed that the Hound referred to the free folk beyond the Wall as wildlings.

Those who held contempt for the tribes outside the Wall would call the tribes 'wildlings'. And the tribes and those close to them would call the tribes 'free folk'.

In the Hound's mouth, there were no free folk, only wildlings.

The same was true in Littlefinger's mouth.

Littlefinger had always looked down on wildling warriors. He believed that those people were crude, primitive, savage, and bloodthirsty, no different from animals that drank blood. Even during the great battle with the Others, Littlefinger and the free folk warriors had fought side by side, but it could not change his contempt for the tribes.

"Hound, I never do business with wildlings."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here for you!"

"For me!" The Hound's face became cold, and he said coldly, "Brothers, loot the merchant ship, capture that lord on the bow, tie him up, take him back to Skagos Island, and lock him in the water dungeon."

"Ho!" the pirates agreed, drawing their swords, axes, hammers, rulers, hooks, and spears.

These people had all kinds of weapons!

The unicorn behind the Hound lowered its head slightly, its eyes staring at Littlefinger like awls.

Littlefinger felt a little flustered.

The Hound was about to attack without a word, which was a bit beyond his expectations.

It seemed that the Hound was even more violent than before.

"Hound, I'm here to save you and the people of your island," Littlefinger said, feeling a little nervous, but outwardly calm.

"I don't believe a word you say," the Hound pursed his lips and let out a clear whistle.

The unicorn let out a roar, like a sharp object scraping against iron, producing a metallic screech that was unpleasant to the ears and uncomfortable to the heart.

Boom!

The unicorn jumped from the bow into the sea, like a huge fish, quickly swimming to the bottom of the trade ship, followed by a jolt throughout the ship. Then, there was the sound of planks breaking from underwater.

The unicorn dived into the water, its horn piercing the bottom of the ship.

The unicorn was powerful, and the sharp horn on its head could easily pierce plate armor.

The cabins under the deck began to flood, and the captain knelt on the bow, begging the Hound for mercy. The oarsmen below began to scream and flee upwards.

Several pirate flatboats approached the trade ship, and the pirates jumped over one after another.

Polliver Clegane said nothing, drew his longsword, and charged towards a pirate.

A long axe smashed down on Polliver's head.

Polliver leaned slightly, the axe brushed his shoulder, and a string of sparks flashed on the armor. The next second, Polliver's longsword pierced the pirate's throat, going in from the front and coming out from the back of the neck.

The second pirate's iron hammer smashed towards Polliver. Polliver shifted his feet, rotated, and his movements were as smooth as flowing water. The longsword cut into the pirate's body at the waist, deeply embedded. The third and fourth pirates rushed over, shouting. Polliver gave up drawing his longsword, a short knife appeared in his hand, and he obliquely blocked the sword stabbed by the pirate in front, and the short knife in his hand pierced into the pirate's mouth. Then, he pushed hard, pushing the stabbed pirate and the pirate behind him who wanted to grab him together, and then stepped on the other pirate's balls.

When Polliver stood still, holding his longsword again, all the pirates who had jumped over had been killed.

And the trade ship began to tilt.

"Hound, I am here on the order of His Majesty the King. Please go to King's Landing. His Majesty the King wants to see you."

"I won't go to King's Landing. You killed my brothers, and all of you must die."

Polliver Clegane pushed up his mask, revealing his true face: "Hound, I am Polliver. In the name of the gods, if you do not respect the king, I will challenge you to a duel!"

"Polliver, so it's you! Dunsen, show yourself too, and Raff the Sweetling." The Hound drew his longsword with a swoosh, and the flagship started, crashing towards the trade ship.

Boom!

A loud noise.

The Hound's ship's bow was a pointed iron cone, specially designed for ramming. This collision shattered the bow of the trade ship. The ship shook violently, and many soldiers on the deck fell. A soldier fell into the sea and was chased by the unicorn, which pierced his body with its horn.

In the sea, the unicorn was a murderous demon, and no one could escape its swift pursuit.

"Hound, if you kill us, everyone on Skagos Island, regardless of men, women, old or young, and all the pirates in this sea, will die," Littlefinger shouted, his forehead already broken and bleeding. "You know what I'm saying. If His Majesty the King wanted to destroy you and Skagos Island, he would have done it long ago. He wouldn't have sent me to invite you to King's Landing."

The Hound jumped from the warship onto the bow. More pirate ships surrounded him, and dozens or hundreds of pirates jumped over. The Hound charged straight ahead, slashing wildly with his longsword. Polliver and the Hound were of similar height, and he blocked with his longsword. With a loud bang, sparks flew everywhere. Polliver staggered back several steps, but the Hound had already strode to Littlefinger, his longsword pointing at Littlefinger's throat: "I didn't provoke him, the Mountain. Why did he send you to provoke me?"

"You looted Braavosi trade ships, threatening the trade routes between Braavos and Lorath. Are you still saying you didn't provoke him? Braavos and Lorath are already territories under the King's banner," Littlefinger said coldly.

The Hound was stunned!

Braavosi Naval Commander Vincent slowly removed his mask, revealing his true face: "Hound, I am Vincent, the naval commander of Braavos."

"General Sandor Clegane, I am Ian, the King's direct legion, the guardian general of the Iron Bank." Ian, who had killed the most people earlier, removed his mask, and said with a majestic aura. He was a famous gladiator in the Eastern world, with nearly two hundred life-and-death battles, and in close combat, he might even be better than the Hound.

Each of his moves just now was like cutting melons and vegetables, killing the first nine brave pirates who jumped over the ship. When he killed nine people, Polliver had only killed four.

"Sandor, I am Steven Clegane, formerly a pirate from the Stepstones, now the guardian general of His Majesty the King's Iron Bank. His Majesty bestowed the Clegane surname."

After Steven Clegane, Ian, and Commander Vincent announced their names, the Hound and his hundreds of followers were surprised and shocked.

Archers appeared on the pirate ships surrounding the trade ship, with longbows and hard arrows, pointing at Littlefinger and his party surrounded on the deck.

"Hound, how can Skagos Island resist when His Majesty the King's dragons arrive?" Littlefinger wiped the blood from his face, and the mischievous smile reappeared on the corner of his mouth.

He saw the Hound's hesitation.

The Hound was not afraid of death, there was no doubt about that, but the Hound was obviously unwilling to implicate the people on Skagos Island.

If he killed Commander Vincent, General Polliver, General Steven, General Ian, and the Hand of the King, Littlefinger, his followers and thousands of men, women, and children on the island would all be buried with them.

The Mountain would slaughter the island, the Hound was convinced of this!

The Hound alone could not kill these four good hands, Polliver, Ian, Commander Vincent, and General Steven, but he only needed to jump back to the warship or the sea, and these people would soon be dragged into the sea by the sinking ship, and they could only be easily killed by the unicorn in the water, or drowned by the sea.

"Put away your swords and come aboard with me," the Hound shouted.

On the opposite side, countless ropes swung over, and the Hound took the lead in grabbing the rope and jumping over. Polliver and others grabbed the ropes and jumped onto the Hound's flagship one after another.

In the sea, the unicorn floated with the water, its black eyes like hell eyes, full of death.

Finally, Ian grabbed Littlefinger and jumped onto the Hound's ship.

Hundreds of pirates and the captain, sailors, mercenaries, and oarsmen worked together to move the valuable goods on the ship to the pirate ship. At the last moment of the ship sinking, they took away as much as they could.

"Littlefinger, go back and tell the Mountain, I won't go to King's Landing," the Hound said. "I'll give you a ship, get out of here."

"Do you want the people of Skagos Island to be well-fed, but not by being pirates?"

"Submitting to the Mountain will allow the people on the island to be well-fed?" the Hound sneered.

"What does Skagos Island have that can be traded?" Littlefinger said.

"We have fish, meat, wolf skins."

"Do you want to eat salt like this?" Littlefinger came prepared, and he took out a bag of snow salt.

The pirates opened the bag and saw fine salt as white as snow that they had never seen before.

"And such good swords." Littlefinger drew the short sword he carried with him, drew it out, and handed it to a pirate. The sword had a dragon bone hilt, and the blade was thin and sharp, with a shining edge, and it was obviously a good sword.

Most of the weapons used by the pirates were blunt weapons. Even the swords were not sharp.

They didn't have good steel, and they didn't have good blacksmiths.

"Hound, even if there is nothing special on Skagos Island that can be traded, the people on the island can move to Braavos, or go to Braavos to work, trade, and be mercenaries. In short, you must never be pirates again. This is not submitting to the Mountain, this is allowing the people on the island to have food to eat, clothes to wear, and scholars to see when they are sick."

The last sentence moved the Hound.

On the island, seeing a doctor was a big problem. When people got sick, they often carried the patient into the priest's small dark room, and everything relied on the priest's prayers to heal them. Many people died of illness. There were no real doctors on the island at all.

Relying on praying to the gods when you are sick is not effective. The Hound did not believe that the gods would care about ordinary people's diseases either.

"Hound, if you agree, I can give you a ship of grain now, as well as hundreds of barrels of wheat wine, hundreds of good swords, hundreds of bolts of cloth, and ten pounds of salt. If we have malice, if His Majesty the King has malice, I would not have needed to make this trip at all. Not to mention sending you grain, cloth, and wine. The kingdom now has dragons, not just His Majesty the King's Sheepstealer. The kingdom now has a total of seven dragons: Sheepstealer, Drogon, Rhaegal, Viserys, Lady, Knight, and Tyraxes."

When the pirates heard the last part, their expressions changed.

The King of Westeros actually had seven dragons?

If they continued to be pirates, what would be the consequences?

Skagos Island nominally belonged to the North, but it was actually in a state of de facto independence. The Stark family had never landed on the island, nor had they ruled the people on the island. It was just that Robert I had the court historians write the island into the map of the North, and the mapmakers also marked Skagos Island on the map of the North.

But words and maps cannot replace reality.

The reality was that Skagos Island had never been truly ruled by any king because it was difficult to land, the island was surrounded by reefs, and the wind and waves were usually high.

The Hound said hoarsely: "Littlefinger, you said the Mountain has seven dragons?"

"You don't believe me? Go to King's Landing and see for yourself. Hound, it's time to put aside your personal grievances. The people on the island saved you, so repay them with a better way of life. Piracy is definitely going to be eradicated; it's a dead end. The seas of the Westeros Empire will no longer tolerate the existence of pirates. Come back to King's Landing with me, Hound!"